"What does a representative from Pittsburg or Garnett know about what's going on in Manhattan?" he demanded about a 2006 law that requires certain land-takings by cities to receive legislative approval. "I support individual property rights, too. It's just who should rule on that?"

Ann Williamson/The Capital-Journal

After chasing conservative voters in the primary, Emporia Sen. Jim Barnett now looks to court moderate Republicans to the GOP cause.

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It wasn't a surprising conversation as far as Kansas Republican politics go. Moderates and conservatives always are at it. That's why they lose elections, observers say. But Barnett gave ground.

"It's always an interesting debate on local control and who you elect to represent you," he said. "I'm sure it will be revisited."

But this one meaningless discussion tells much of the story behind Barnett's run for the governorship.

Cast originally as a moderate when he joined the Senate in 2000, Barnett careened to the right to pick up conservative votes during the Republican primary. The strategy worked and he easily won a crowded primary.

The chore now is to get back to the middle. Four years ago, too many moderate Republicans -- who aren't as keen about the anti-abortion conservative agenda -- skipped the fence to vote for Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

"He has to return some of these Republicans back into voting for him," said Kansas Republican Party chairman Tim Shallenburger. "It's difficult to get through the rhetoric."

Wooing moderates

Ann Williamson/The Capital-Journal

Emporia Sen. Jim Barnett has picked up endorsements from nearly every state Republican leader. Of Barnett, Tim Shallenburger, the GOP standard-bearer in 2002, says Barnett, "shouldn't inflame the passions on the left as I did."

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Fortunately for Barnett, he's found a friend in people like Strawn, a gregarious moderate with a lot of contacts in Manhattan.

Strawn drove Barnett around the city during a recent day of campaigning. And at a meeting of the local Rotary, Strawn fawned over the senator.

Recalling a conversation he'd had with a voter while campaigning, "He's smart. He's articulate. He's caring. I absolutely think the world of him," Strawn said.

Barnett wants moderates to feel the same way. He's not doing badly. Some top moderates in Kansas have thrown in with him.

But his headway hasn't been overpowering.

Recent polling figures showed the senator trailing Sebelius by nine points. That figure has been relatively unchanged for weeks.

"He hasn't lost control of the race," said Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty. "It doesn't look like he's lost the undecided (vote), but it hasn't been like he's gained."

On the trail

Barnett has said since the Aug. 1 primary that his message is one "all Republicans can come home to."

Tax cuts and controlled government spending are his two primary planks.

"The door's wide open for another school suit," he warned the Manhattan Rotary.

The Legislature, Barnett said, should have taken up his four-year, $495 million school finance plan rather than the larger one it finally settled on -- and which is projected to drive the state into a budget deficit.

The answer, the senator argues, is more tax cuts.

He blasts out a list of four of them: eliminating the estate tax during his first year in office, increasing dependent tax exemptions by $500, lowering the income tax and providing a 10 percent investment tax credit to businesses.

"Slow down, take a breath, live within your means," he says.

A better candidate?

Barnett also always has been aligned with conservatives on social issues, particularly abortion.

BALANCING ACT

She's spent four years dodging GOP stereotypes as a liberal.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS

Political party: Democrat

Age: 58

Home: Topeka

Occupation: Governor

Political experience: Past member of the Kansas House; served 1995 to 2003 as Kansas insurance commissioner

Education: Bachelor's degree from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., in 1970; master's degree in public administration from The University of Kansas in 1977.

Family: Husband, Gary, and two grown children

He's wooing moderates after a turn to the right in the primary.

JIM BARNETT

Political party: Republican

Age: 52

Home: Emporia

Occupation: Physician and state senator

Political experience: Past member of the Emporia school board; has served since 2001 as member of the Kansas Senate

Education: Bachelor's degree from Emporia State University in 1976; The University of Kansas Medical School in 1979

Family: Wife, Yvonne, and two grown children

Shallenburger, however, said Barnett is a far better candidate than he was four years ago.

As state treasurer, Shallenburger lost by eight points in 2002 to Sebelius, who was fueled by the largest gubernatorial war chest in state history.

But as a stalwart conservative and former House speaker, Shallenburger had burned enough bridges with moderate Republicans that his battle was an uphill one from the start. His memory remains vivid.

"The moderates didn't like me from the beginning," he said, noting "the 25 days of no endorsement from the sitting Republican incumbent."

Indeed, then-Gov. Bill Graves initially balked at endorsing Shallenburger after the GOP primary. Graves, a moderate, eventually endorsed Shallenburger but only after a series of high-profile meetings to work out their differences.

Barnett has an easier road on that front.

He has picked up an endorsement from Graves, along with nearly every other living Republican leader.

"I know Jim has the leadership and the right plan to get Kansas back on track," Graves said in an August news release issued by the Barnett campaign.

But for Shallenburger, the difference comes back to the fact Barnett was a sitting moderate senator when he began his run. He's not a hard-charging partisan, Shallenburger said.

"Generally, Dr. Barnett has been a go-along, get-along guy," he said. "He isn't quite as fiery, not as volatile. He shouldn't inflame the passions of the left as I did."

Charlie Hostetler, a former Riley County Republican chairman and a moderate, was effusive about Barnett, almost promising victory. He pointed to the physician factor. Barnett has practiced internal medicine for 24 years.

"I think the complexion here is completely different than it was four years ago," he said. "A lot of people didn't vote for Tim. The women sure didn't."

Will moderates follow?

Other moderates haven't necessarily welcomed Barnett with open arms.

"I admire Sen. Barnett quite a bit. I think he's got the best interests of the Republican Party at heart," said Dennis Jones, former Republican Party chairman and a prominent moderate.

Ever at odds with conservatives, Jones stirred the Republican pot last month by endorsing Democrat Paul Morrison over Attorney General Phill Kline, a conservative favorite. Jones, meanwhile, is serving as Kearny County chairman for the campaigns of Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, Treasurer Lynn Jenkins and Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh -- all moderates.

Jones isn't involved in the Barnett campaign. Asked about the senator, Jones initially balked at the question.

"I don't want to do something to undermine Senator Barnett's campaign," he said.

However, Jones did loosen up. He said he planned to vote for Barnett in the upcoming election.

"My heart is with the Republican Party," he said.

It wasn't a ringing endorsement.

"There are issues (Barnett) is going to have to acknowledge and accept that are tearing this party apart," he said.

Jones said Republicans must return to "fiscal conservatism and responsible government." He said Barnett was on the right track fiscally.

But he also chided conservatives for their intense interest in social issues.

"We have got to accept the fact that there's a role for government to play and a role for government not to play. And that's not to get involved in private lives," Jones said.

Had Barnett gotten that message? "Not that I'm aware of," Jones said.

Beyond immigration

Beatty said Barnett still has a chance to win the election. The key is to pick the right issues and raise money.

Barnett by last week had aired only one television commercial, firing at the governor about illegal immigration. That issue won't win elections, Beatty said, but pushing the tax button will help.

More than that, Beatty said, the senator has to turn moderate Republicans and independent voters away from Sebelius.

"He's got to really make the case she's not doing a good job the last four years," he said.

That means going negative and playing a balancing game.

"If he gets real negative, he might bring that base out - if they get all riled up. But he might drive the moderate voters for Sebelius because he ran a negative campaign," Beatty said.

But bigger issues are out there for the senator, Shallenburger said. It's money.

Barnett has trailed badly in the push for campaign cash. And the national Republican Party so far has declined to wade into the race. Shallenburger said that must change, and quickly.

"The problem is: Has my mother ever heard of him? No," Shallenburger said. "I think that is it. It is sad, but I think that's it."

Chris Moon can be reached at (785) 233-7470 or chris.moon@cjonline.com.